Do better now: De Blasio and the NYPD must get a handle on rising crime
After another bloody weekend, there’s no dancing around stark facts: Homicides in New York City are up 29% compared to the same time last year. Shooting victims are up nearly 85%. Felony assaults are up 15.5% over where they were at this point in 2010.
Yes, 2020 1/4 u2032s 244 murders to date are still lower than 2014 1/4 u2032s 328 homicides, the year Bill de Blasio became mayor. But this jump in fear and bloodshed is happening at a terrible time for a city that’s struggling for a foothold as it climbs uphill post-coronavirus.
Criminologists will likely debate the causes for years, just as they are still debating the reasons for New York’s historic crime decline. Leaders must act now to turn the tide.
Gov. Cuomo is demanding localities submit to the state a police-community relations “reinvention” plan by next April, with state funding at risk should they drop the ball. It’s a gambit; success or failure will come sooner, in strategies and tactics tested on the streets, not blueprints sketched on paper.
